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WF Sorc. Maybe Completionist Jugg with Full Epic Gear... Walks through Korthos like a hot knife through butter.

"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves." Niccolò MachiavelliThelanis: ArbixCompletionist (23rd Life), ArbySoul, ArbyBarb, ArbyPriest, Arbificer etc.

I solo 90 % of the time and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on some of the best solo builds?

I like playing melee toons but not afraid to try a caster or cleric or a multi class if there r some uber solo to try.

I realize there could be lots of answers to this question and thats great. THe more options I see the better

Thanks

I've been playing this game since beta, and I've made a study of this very issue for a good deal of that time (what build could really take you the furthest in this game without grouping). I've studied a lot of different types of character builds. Now, there are some variables involved. Will you occasionally group, or is it strictly a solo build? Will it be twinked? Do you have 32 point builds available? Are you FtP or VIP? Will you use the auction house or no?

The answers to those questions will have an effect on the type of build you want to make. However, I can give some general advice.

IMO, solo melee builds hit a wall, usually around level 10 or so. I've found that no matter how good your offense/defense is, mobs will ultimately wear you down just through attrition (and the red bosses are going to smack you hard). You can expend resources, of course to mitigate that (pots etc), but that gets expensive, so unless you are twinked, you end up spending more to get through the dungeon than you make, which ultimately becomes unsustainable. So melee will take you into the mid-game, but after that it gets much more difficult (again, unless you have a sugar-daddy, in which case they can go forever if you don't mind the fact that they won't make as much as they expend).

Casters are the opposite. They are quite difficult to play early on, but get easier as they get up in levels. My problem with casters is they have a limiting factor, which is mana. Once they run out, they are in big trouble. When you are in a group, casters don't usually run out of mana all that often, but that's because the rest of the party is doing their part, the caster doesn't personally have to expend mana to take down every single creature. In solo mode, that is not the case, and you will burn though mana much quicker. Again, there are pots to help with this, but then you run into that whole expenditures vs profit situation again. You may end up spending more than you make, so it becomes the same situation as the melee builds.

So, having said all that, what is the best build?

IMO, the very best build is a Warforged Artificer xbow specced.

Why? Artificers have a decent mana pool, so they have lots and lots of self-healing. Other spells should be reserved for buffs mostly (you aren't going to be casting much in combat, except for perhaps the occasional Flame Turret). So you won't burn through all your mana to kill mobs.

With a repeater crossbow you can kill all the mobs before they get anywhere near you (nothing like taking a sub-machine gun into a fantasy game, hehe). Plus, artificers can use conjured bolts, which means no spending money per shot (and as fast as you go through bolts with a repeater, this gets to be more of a big deal than you might think).

Thirdly, you get a pet (iron defender), which means not every single mob will aggro on you. Even though the pet AI is dumber than dirt, and goes brain dead more often than not, if a mob is beating on your dog, it's not beating on you, and you can shoot it down with your machine gun, er, crossbow with impunity.

Also, if you are so inclined, you can do Cannith Crafting and build whatever weapon/docent/ring/etc you find most useful. Getting hit by too many spells? Craft a spell resistance ring. I built a fearsome docent which I've found to be quite helpful (if a mob does get past my crossbow and hits me, more often than not it is feared, and runs off, at which point I can shoot him down, which means most of the time a particular enemy will only hit me once, at most).

Using this kind of build, this character is ALWAYS profitable, because he has virtually no expenses. Which means I can save my plat for luxury items, like portable holes or even a guild airship (I put this character into a one person guild just because I got sick of the /tells, but the guild is well on it's way to level 20 at which point I'm going to buy an airship for him).

So yeah, that's my long wall of text advice. Others will disagree with me, probably a lot, hehe. A lot of it comes down to personal playstyle I think. And of course, twinking versus non-twinked makes a HUGE difference in how this game plays.

The locus of my identity is totally exterior to me."On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." - Satoru Iwata

I've been playing this game since beta, and I've made a study of this very issue for a good deal of that time (what build could really take you the furthest in this game without grouping). I've studied a lot of different types of character builds. Now, there are some variables involved. Will you occasionally group, or is it strictly a solo build? Will it be twinked? Do you have 32 point builds available? Are you FtP or VIP? Will you use the auction house or no?

The answers to those questions will have an effect on the type of build you want to make. However, I can give some general advice.

IMO, solo melee builds hit a wall, usually around level 10 or so. I've found that no matter how good your offense/defense is, mobs will ultimately wear you down just through attrition (and the red bosses are going to smack you hard). You can expend resources, of course to mitigate that (pots etc), but that gets expensive, so unless you are twinked, you end up spending more to get through the dungeon than you make, which ultimately becomes unsustainable. So melee will take you into the mid-game, but after that it gets much more difficult (again, unless you have a sugar-daddy, in which case they can go forever if you don't mind the fact that they won't make as much as they expend).

Casters are the opposite. They are quite difficult to play early on, but get easier as they get up in levels. My problem with casters is they have a limiting factor, which is mana. Once they run out, they are in big trouble. When you are in a group, casters don't usually run out of mana all that often, but that's because the rest of the party is doing their part, the caster doesn't personally have to expend mana to take down every single creature. In solo mode, that is not the case, and you will burn though mana much quicker. Again, there are pots to help with this, but then you run into that whole expenditures vs profit situation again. You may end up spending more than you make, so it becomes the same situation as the melee builds.

So, having said all that, what is the best build?

IMO, the very best build is a Warforged Artificer xbow specced.

Why? Artificers have a decent mana pool, so they have lots and lots of self-healing. Other spells should be reserved for buffs mostly (you aren't going to be casting much in combat, except for perhaps the occasional Flame Turret). So you won't burn through all your mana to kill mobs.

With a repeater crossbow you can kill all the mobs before they get anywhere near you (nothing like taking a sub-machine gun into a fantasy game, hehe). Plus, artificers can use conjured bolts, which means no spending money per shot (and as fast as you go through bolts with a repeater, this gets to be more of a big deal than you might think).

Thirdly, you get a pet (iron defender), which means not every single mob will aggro on you. Even though the pet AI is dumber than dirt, and goes brain dead more often than not, if a mob is beating on your dog, it's not beating on you, and you can shoot it down with your machine gun, er, crossbow with impunity.

Also, if you are so inclined, you can do Cannith Crafting and build whatever weapon/docent/ring/etc you find most useful. Getting hit by too many spells? Craft a spell resistance ring. I built a fearsome docent which I've found to be quite helpful (if a mob does get past my crossbow and hits me, more often than not it is feared, and runs off, at which point I can shoot him down, which means most of the time a particular enemy will only hit me once, at most).

Using this kind of build, this character is ALWAYS profitable, because he has virtually no expenses. Which means I can save my plat for luxury items, like portable holes or even a guild airship (I put this character into a one person guild just because I got sick of the /tells, but the guild is well on it's way to level 20 at which point I'm going to buy an airship for him).

So yeah, that's my long wall of text advice. Others will disagree with me, probably a lot, hehe. A lot of it comes down to personal playstyle I think. And of course, twinking versus non-twinked makes a HUGE difference in how this game plays.

I agree with Ron on the wf arty. But my problem with wf arty is that it's almost too easy. Too easy means less fun for me. If you're looking for a challenge, with TONS of fun and solo-ability, I'd put my money on Thanimals quad h build. It's a 12 fighter/7 monk/1 wizard build that uses the halfling healing Dmarks and the 2 metas u get from 1 wiz for more healing than I've ever found a use for.

Originally Posted by grodon9999

This game has been such an absurd grind that I’d rather stick my junk in a beehive than make another toon.

Originally Posted by Teh_Troll

An expansion . .. with a set of packs for each plane to come out every month or two . . . it'll be like crack to Whitney Houston.

Those are all solid builds that give you the three essentials of soloing: DPS, self-heals, and enough non-squishiness to avoid one-shot kills (usually). Trapping ability is reeeally nice for a soloer, especially on Elite (and its an extra ~10% XP per quest, although it pretty much uses up all your skillpoints), so keep that in mind for the Arti-containing builds. Evasion also comes in very handy, so points to Monk/Rogue/Ranger-containing builds there

I've been playing this game since beta, and I've made a study of this very issue for a good deal of that time (what build could really take you the furthest in this game without grouping). I've studied a lot of different types of character builds. Now, there are some variables involved. Will you occasionally group, or is it strictly a solo build? Will it be twinked? Do you have 32 point builds available? Are you FtP or VIP? Will you use the auction house or no?

The answers to those questions will have an effect on the type of build you want to make. However, I can give some general advice.

IMO, solo melee builds hit a wall, usually around level 10 or so. I've found that no matter how good your offense/defense is, mobs will ultimately wear you down just through attrition (and the red bosses are going to smack you hard). You can expend resources, of course to mitigate that (pots etc), but that gets expensive, so unless you are twinked, you end up spending more to get through the dungeon than you make, which ultimately becomes unsustainable. So melee will take you into the mid-game, but after that it gets much more difficult (again, unless you have a sugar-daddy, in which case they can go forever if you don't mind the fact that they won't make as much as they expend).

Casters are the opposite. They are quite difficult to play early on, but get easier as they get up in levels. My problem with casters is they have a limiting factor, which is mana. Once they run out, they are in big trouble. When you are in a group, casters don't usually run out of mana all that often, but that's because the rest of the party is doing their part, the caster doesn't personally have to expend mana to take down every single creature. In solo mode, that is not the case, and you will burn though mana much quicker. Again, there are pots to help with this, but then you run into that whole expenditures vs profit situation again. You may end up spending more than you make, so it becomes the same situation as the melee builds.

So, having said all that, what is the best build?

IMO, the very best build is a Warforged Artificer xbow specced.

Why? Artificers have a decent mana pool, so they have lots and lots of self-healing. Other spells should be reserved for buffs mostly (you aren't going to be casting much in combat, except for perhaps the occasional Flame Turret). So you won't burn through all your mana to kill mobs.

With a repeater crossbow you can kill all the mobs before they get anywhere near you (nothing like taking a sub-machine gun into a fantasy game, hehe). Plus, artificers can use conjured bolts, which means no spending money per shot (and as fast as you go through bolts with a repeater, this gets to be more of a big deal than you might think).

Thirdly, you get a pet (iron defender), which means not every single mob will aggro on you. Even though the pet AI is dumber than dirt, and goes brain dead more often than not, if a mob is beating on your dog, it's not beating on you, and you can shoot it down with your machine gun, er, crossbow with impunity.

Also, if you are so inclined, you can do Cannith Crafting and build whatever weapon/docent/ring/etc you find most useful. Getting hit by too many spells? Craft a spell resistance ring. I built a fearsome docent which I've found to be quite helpful (if a mob does get past my crossbow and hits me, more often than not it is feared, and runs off, at which point I can shoot him down, which means most of the time a particular enemy will only hit me once, at most).

Using this kind of build, this character is ALWAYS profitable, because he has virtually no expenses. Which means I can save my plat for luxury items, like portable holes or even a guild airship (I put this character into a one person guild just because I got sick of the /tells, but the guild is well on it's way to level 20 at which point I'm going to buy an airship for him).

So yeah, that's my long wall of text advice. Others will disagree with me, probably a lot, hehe. A lot of it comes down to personal playstyle I think. And of course, twinking versus non-twinked makes a HUGE difference in how this game plays.

I group a little (working on more). I'm vip, I have 32 pt builds, I use AH Tonnes, I twink when ever possible.

I'm playing a Drow toon right now that will end up 12 cleric 6 ranger 2 rogue. He's at lev (c8/rang1/r1) 10 now. Has been a lot of fun to play so far.

What you need to solo is a source of healing and sustained DPS. I like 18 clr/2 ftr or 18 FVS/2 ftr for a solo build that will not enter EEs. Your 12/6/2 might do very well. Getting the heal spell and radiant aura is pretty awesome for a solo build. Your DPS will not be great. My 18 clr/2 ftr was a great soloist, but he had very few SP and just didn't cut it as a party healer. The FVS should have enough healing to get reasonable groups through EH quests.

I solo 90 % of the time and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on some of the best solo builds?

I like playing melee toons but not afraid to try a caster or cleric or a multi class if there r some uber solo to try.

I realize there could be lots of answers to this question and thats great. THe more options I see the better

Thanks

11 Ranger 8 Rogue 1 Fighter

You've got Manyshot, all the necessary bow feats, Improved Uncanny Dodge (I spam this as much as I spam displace scrolls which is more often than I ever drank CSW pots), and if you have enough feats go for 9 rogue and get Improved Evasion as well.

That and you're a dual wielder for more dps awesomeness. Bonus points if you go for the OC chain, and then pull out a staff and melee with that in mob situations.

Go Half elf, get the AA perks and roll with those.

Go Human, drop the 1 fighter, go 12 Ranger and go the Tempest route.

Either way, max out your heal amp and your little baby heals will help you throughout leveling. At epic levels as well, start in Primal and twist Cocoon for more self healiness. That, and you have ranged capabilities that allow you to just kite enemies while systematically jumping in and breaking faces. Will people knock you for being what they consider a gimp? Sure, doesn't mean they're right.

Or you could be like everyone else and build a toaster Juggernaut that just cleaves.

I agree with Ron on the wf arty. But my problem with wf arty is that it's almost too easy. Too easy means less fun for me. If you're looking for a challenge, with TONS of fun and solo-ability, I'd put my money on Thanimals quad h build. It's a 12 fighter/7 monk/1 wizard build that uses the halfling healing Dmarks and the 2 metas u get from 1 wiz for more healing than I've ever found a use for.

can the 12/7/1 build solo farm EE quests with bad-medium equipment? once you start soloing epics i feel if ur a melee you need uber equipment and soloing EEs is very very hard.
i find EEs to be a challenge for my 500hp wf arti you cant take many hits only trouble is you get almost bored kiting them around since they take forever to kill and you almost always need to abuse bad AI on boss fights becuase kiting them around simply takes to long.

i agree with ron on the WF arti also and since you dont need uber int to be effective they are forgiving when it comes to equipment you can grind out stuff and become a demigod or you can chill and just be decent while still being a amazing soloer.

id take 2lvls of monk over a pure arti but ill admit this is not a superior build its better in certain quests worse in others.

If you like melees you could go with an evasion paladin - 18Pally/2Rogue. Max out healing amps and devotion enhancements. take your first level of rogue at 1 and your second level of rogue at L8 for when you really start to need evasion (in light armor). You might have to skip building up trapping skills but you can max out locks and concentrate. Take HOD at L7 and you're ready for Necro and Delara's.

Great solo for heroic levels, not sure about epic. EllisDee has a thread on it if you are interested.

You've got Manyshot, all the necessary bow feats, Improved Uncanny Dodge (I spam this as much as I spam displace scrolls which is more often than I ever drank CSW pots), and if you have enough feats go for 9 rogue and get Improved Evasion as well.

That and you're a dual wielder for more dps awesomeness. Bonus points if you go for the OC chain, and then pull out a staff and melee with that in mob situations.

Go Half elf, get the AA perks and roll with those.

Go Human, drop the 1 fighter, go 12 Ranger and go the Tempest route.

Either way, max out your heal amp and your little baby heals will help you throughout leveling. At epic levels as well, start in Primal and twist Cocoon for more self healiness. That, and you have ranged capabilities that allow you to just kite enemies while systematically jumping in and breaking faces. .

Pretty much this. This will be roughly the build I do on my next life for my main(AAversion. Will also be trying to get a workable stunning blow in there somehow) Rangers, or anything with a 6 Ranger splash are the Queens of Solo play imo.

I'd rate these builds among my favorite to solo on, but I have the gear and experience to make them work well. Not sure how they would translate to ungeared toons but:

11Ranger/6Monk/3Arti AA - There is a long of wiggle room with this class split on how to play it, what feats to take, what race to be.. add a ranger level and drop an arti level for Tempest2. I play this class split as a TWF+10K stars AA build until EE's using WSS and longswords. At end game I dropped WSS and picked up cleave, great cleave, and PA. But you can play it however you want really. There is just so many options it's ridiculous.

12Cleric/6Ranger/2Monk - Same with the above build, you can either go unarmed, TWF with longswords, THF, go AA... Unlike the ranger class split you are limited to being good in one aspect of DPS though. If you take all the ranged feats, you don't have many to spare to beef up your melee DPS. And if you go the melee route, your ranged DPS while still nice won't be as amazing. The one big benefit this build has above any other is the heal spell, and Aura/bursts. Constant self heals+ the best oh**** button in the game? check!

(both of these need some gear to be good.)

And the less potent, but still very, very good. And very fun is a pure Ranger.
TWF DPS, awesome bow damage, good self heals, good survivability. Awesome Icon. What isn't to like about this class?
And on the plus side, Going a pure ranger has the added benefit of being much less gear dependant that other builds.
With a pure ranger you can go either AA, or full tempest and be good either way. Being pure also lets you be an AA in any race of your choice.

can the 12/7/1 build solo farm EE quests with bad-medium equipment? once you start soloing epics i feel if ur a melee you need uber equipment and soloing EEs is very very hard.
i find EEs to be a challenge for my 500hp wf arti you cant take many hits only trouble is you get almost bored kiting them around since they take forever to kill and you almost always need to abuse bad AI on boss fights becuase kiting them around simply takes to long.

i agree with ron on the WF arti also and since you dont need uber int to be effective they are forgiving when it comes to equipment you can grind out stuff and become a demigod or you can chill and just be decent while still being a amazing soloer.

id take 2lvls of monk over a pure arti but ill admit this is not a superior build its better in certain quests worse in others.

You know, I'd love to say yes, it can solo EE. But the truth of the matter is, I'm too much of a raging alt-oholic to know. I do, however, have 2 quad h builds currently going and I soloed them both to ~13-14 with absolutely no problem at all. And I mean REAL solo, not the "bring a hireling and it's still solo" kinda solo. For example, at level 7 with no twink gear, I soloed all of Co6 on normal. That's 2 level 8 quests, 2 level 9 quests, and 2 level 10 quests.

To some it may not be that much of an accomplishment, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

Originally Posted by grodon9999

This game has been such an absurd grind that I’d rather stick my junk in a beehive than make another toon.

Originally Posted by Teh_Troll

An expansion . .. with a set of packs for each plane to come out every month or two . . . it'll be like crack to Whitney Houston.

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